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Assault on senior ‘over the top’

A 19-year-old Owen Sound woman who knocked a 72-year-old woman unconscious when she punched her through an open car window left Ontario Court Justice Julia Morneau wondering what kind of community we’re living in.
Alysha A. Croft, of 795 5th Ave. E., Unit 208, stood flush-faced and silent after the judge considered aloud what she’d just heard.
Croft pleaded guilty to assaulting the retired teacher, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of her car in a driveway where a friend lived, on Oct. 26 in Owen Sound.
Grey County Crown attorney Michael Martin said people arrived in another car and demanded that she move. The victim let them in, then returned to where she was parked.
Croft arrived in her car and the others demanded the victim back out of the driveway again. In so doing, the woman’s vehicle made contact with Croft’s car.
Croft grew angry, got out of her car and punched the victim with a closed fist, temporarily knocking her unconscious, Martin said.
One of the people with the group that had been telling the victim to move her car came to her assistance and police were called. But Croft took off at the suggestion of people she knew there.
The victim’s mouth was cut on the inside and it bled profusely, damaging the upholstery of her car and ruining a blouse, she later told police. She suffered from a headache for a few days and was left with an uncomfortable scar inside her mouth.
The victim said she does not want Croft to go to jail, but would prefer a sentence that stresses counselling and community service.
Martin told Morneau custody would normally be recommended.
“Oh, it wouldn’t take a lot of convincing, normally,” Morneau remarked.
But Martin recommended 12 months probation, counselling and community service, based on the fact Croft has no criminal record, her relatively early guilty plea, her seemingly genuine remorse expressed to police and admission of guilt to police who arrested her in January.
Croft has a learning disability and receives a disability cheque, though she hopes to get work at a local quarry, said duty counsel supervisor Mary McCormick, who joined the Crown in asking for probation.
Morneau said she was unsettled about that sentence for such a crime.
“She’s 72 years old,” Morneau observed. “What kind of community are we living in?”
Morneau observed the victim is “obviously a very kind and forgiving woman.” Nonetheless, Morneau said she was “gravely disturbed,” then said “That’s way over the top.”
She ordered a presentence report to give her background about Croft and set April 11 for sentencing.
Morneau acknowledged the court of appeal’s direction to judges to generally not interfere in joint submissions for sentences and said she won’t necessarily do that.